Dancing at a Joint in the Bayview District, San Francisco, CA 1957

In the immediate aftermath of the second world war, the California School of Fine Arts hired Ansel Adams – the pre-eminent photographer of the American west – to create the first fine art photography department in the US

Nude, c.1950s

Halprin/Lathrop Dancers, San Francisco, CA 1953

Students and teachers would sometimes collaborate together – for instance, Lange and Pirkle Jones created a series of images of Monticello, a Californian town that was to be flooded by the arrival of a dam

Perhaps inspired in part by Adams’ landscapes, Philip Hyde documented the majesty of California’s nature. He became the chief photographer for the Sierra Club conservation group, and successfully lobbied against the creation of dams in the Grand Canyon. His photos also helped grant protection to areas including Big Sur and the Point Reyes peninsula

Paris, France c.1945-50

Benjamen Chinn came to the school from a job as an aerial photographer in the air force. He also learned painting under Richard Diebenkorn, and was later taught sculpture by Alberto Giacometti in Paris